What are Filters? |
- You can capture incoming data to a buffer and a file. If you have a lot of something like PPP
or TCP/IP protocol frames captured, you may want to examine only those frames which meet certain criteria.
This way, the Frame View would list only those you wish to examine. This can save a tremendous amount of
time in troubleshooting or working on a problem.
- There are capture filters (which operate to Filter out things you know up front you don't need to see...use
in limited quantities, some side effects noted) and display filters. If you choose to use only display filters, the only
downside can be storage space--because all events, frames, and such are included in the capture, and only removed from sight upon
displaying the data.
- There are capture filters available in several places in VCS.
Quick Filters -- available from Filter menu in Frame view
- Protocol Navigator View has the equivalent of Quick Filters on the left side of the screen.
- Tab Filters provide convenient tabs at the top of Frame View, just above the first visible pane.
- You can do a "filter within filtered frames" operation to refine results of filtration.
- "Filtering In" a particular protocol means you will see only packets that contain the protocol but you
will see all of the packet(s) that are filtered in.
- "Filtering Out" or "Hiding" means that selected protocols in all packets will be hidden from view
but the remainder of each packet will be visible.
- Tab Filters are so convenient it's hard not to use them. The only downside is they provide only
a portion of the Quick Filter capability and do not provide for named filters.
- Click here if you absolutely cannot wait to
see the details of filtration in ViewComm.
- Click here to see a view of Protocol Navigator
View--with the Quick Filters over on the left.
- Or click here to get the demo and
really play with the GUI. It's pretty deep so fasten seat belts!
- The VCS Filter capability is very flexible and extensive. Here are some of the criteria on which you can apply a filter.
- You can create filter setups, name them and save them to files for reuse, thus avoiding set up time.
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Node and Conversation |
- You can specify IP or MAC addresses for source and/or destination, and
include or exclude frames meeting this criterion from the Summary Pane in Frame View.
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Protocol |
- Include or exclude from display packets containing specified protocols.
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Pattern Match |
- Specify frames containing specified byte patterns (including ASCII characters, hex, octal, or binary bytes.
- Include or exclude frames as above.
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BPF (tcpdump syntax) |
- The Berkeley Packet Filtering system, implemented in Unix as tcpdump, provides a rich syntax for defining simple or complex filtering criteria.
- Reference material Is available For users who are Not familiar With BPF.
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Much more information about the filtering capabilities of ViewComm |
